Nov. 27–OAKLAND — BART’s Oakland Airport Connector — the sleek trams that whisk riders from the Coliseum station — seems to be falling victim to the ride-booking phenomenon that has also bedeviled taxis, shuttles and other airport transit services.

The $6 one-way fare may not be helping fill seats, either.

Rather than making a projected $2 million profit in its first two years, the service has cost the agency $860,000. And ridership dropped 4.5 percent during the three-month period ending Sept. 30 from the same period a year earlier, as ride-booking services tripled their numbers over the same span.

Social justice advocates blasted the service when it was first proposed as a “shovel ready” candidate for federal stimulus funds, calling the automated people mover a “boondoggle” that does little to benefit the mostly low-income East Oakland communities the trams pass over. And several groups challenged BART’s assumptions that it could use the connector’s high fares to cover its operating costs.

Data recently obtained by this newspaper show those concerns have come to fruition, though not for reasons anyone suspected at the time. The introduction of ride-booking services, such as Uber, Lyft and Wingz, at Oakland International Airport last year have consumed nearly all of the new business from the airport’s growing passenger traffic.

The precipitous rise of ride-booking took everyone by surprise, including the staff at Oakland International Airport, said Stephen Gordon, the airport’s business manager.

“Anybody who said they saw this coming is full of baloney,” he said. “Every month, we continue to be astonished by the growth in the use of (ride-booking).”

TNC’s might be part of the issue here, but should also look at OAK’s recent parking strategy changes.

Economy lot is $12/day, a 5-min walk to terminal.
BART from SF is $12.50 each way. Basically, 2-day trips are a wash between the two if you live in SF. If you’re traveling with a partner or family, 4+ day trips are a wash. Trips to Hawaii and Europe give you 7-days of free parking.

Eric, use some common sense please. Electric vehicles only eliminate one of the dozen problems associated with individual motorized transportation. You still need far far wider roadways and bridges than “massive rail and other infrastructure” does. They would still perpetuate sprawl and be highly inefficient compared to walkable/bikeable communities that are easily served by public transit. Transit isn’t nearly as inflexible as the sprawling suburbs in which it is ineffective.

So a current Uber/Lyft requires a Massey Bridge, but an electric Uber/Lyft wouldn’t??

If it’s that clear cut, shouldn’t we go ahead and spend $3.5B on fleet electrification and just keep the tunnel? It would save us the hassle of having to deal with that pesky “massive other infrastructure”.

You have me thinking. I was thinking more about the Broadway subway. Particularly because there has not been any suggestion except form a couple of us that rail should go across and down to Delta, Tsawwassen and on.

But, if autonomous vehicles are coming soon they will almost certainly be electric, then the cost of renting a Uber AV would be very small because there’s no driver making a living. This would undoubtedly be attractive as a cheap and private way to commute.

A Uber or Lyft run jitney service along Broadway, through the hospitals precinct and on to UBC make complete sense. It would be cheap and could be accomplished at no cost to the taxpayer.

With the massive saving of billions there would be loads of money for more bike lanes, public art and social housing.

As for spending $3.5 billion on electrifying the fleet, are you offering to buy me and my significant other Teslas? I will admit that I’m like some municipal political parties and I could possibly be encouraged to look the other way. A brace of Tesla S’s could fit the bill.